A History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000-323 BC (Blackwell History of the Ancient World) [Paperback]

This book covers over 3,000 years of history in the Ancient Near East, focusing primarily on the crucible of civilisation - Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The book covers the subject matter chronologically, dividing the history into three broad sections: City States (3500 BCE-1300 BCE), Territorial States (1300 BCE - 850 BCE) and Empires (850 BCE - 350 BCE). Within each section, key developments are outlined and assessed, providing the reader with a good, clear overview of developments in Sumer, Balbylonia, Assyria and (to a lesser extent) the surrounding territories of Syria, Anatolia, and Elam (north west Iran).

I have found it an invaluable introduction to a complex but extraordinarily important story, the details of which are still emerging fitfully from the ground.

The ancient Near East can be a mystifying minefield of names, with the chronological distances involved making matters worse; but it is also a fascinating story of the rise of the first civilisations. Any student of history or the classics should find worth in a book that illustrates this story. The text, which ends with the accession of Alexander the Great, covers not only the native civilisations of the `fertile crescent' but also the wider economic networks that, during the New Kingdom Egypt/Mycenaean period, underpinned the states all around the Mediterranean world. The linguistic changes that took place throughout this immense time period are also discussed, including diagrams that illustrate those changes in detail.

In this book, the excitingly-named Marc Van De Mieroop manages to create a lucid and understandable narrative, allowing the reader to follow the cycles of rising and falling cities and empires. Throughout the text there is a set of clearly marked maps, and inset boxes with primary source extracts, both of which are useful and informative. In conclusion, though the subject matter may put it beyond the interests of many, anyone who is interested in this time period would be well-advised to add this to their collection.

This is a freshman-college level survey of a seminal period of history: with Bronze Age technologies and refined agriculture, the first empires arose to establish patterns of urban civilization and king-centered governance that would last more or less to the industrial revolution. It is absolutely essential stuff and very fun to know.

In the beginning, there were innumerable competing city states in Mesopotamia, who jockeyed for advantage and tiny slices of territory. Each city state had an urban elite with the beginnings of written records (in syllabic cuneiform) to cover both administrative arrangements and early narrative literature and poetry. Much was recorded on Steles, in the form of propaganda regarding some leader's exploits. In time, the organization extended to larger regions that thrived on trade and a specialized work force, enabling elaborate religions with temples to arise as well as monumental architecture, particularly with ziggurats in Babylon. The king was often also the head priest, as in Egypt, but the functions were increasingly separated. Finally, empires (e.g. Assyrian and Persian) arose over huge territories that involved vast displacements of entire populations for purposes of slave labor and mercenary uses. This order ended only with the conquest by Alexander and his heirs, who divided his empire and were more or less absorbed into the local cultures. These peoples were predominantly semitic, at the time when Jews, Arabs, and others were forming into distinctive cultures. But there were also Indo-Europeans in the Hittites and then the Persians, both of whom established formidable empires.

There were several crucial turning points that are covered in outline. These include the emergence of exploitive international elites who had more in common with eachother than with their subjugated peoples, corresponding in highly developed rhetorical forms that required extremely refined classes of scribes to write in the somewhat awkward cuneiform syllabic script (it was only with the Phoenicians that alphabetic script developed, which was far easier to master). This order faced an unexplained catastrophic breakdown around 1200 BCE, at the time when bronze was replaced by iron. This wiped out the extensive trade networks and cultural exchanges that are portrayed as a kind of golden age. The author's treament of this mystery demonstrates the limits of this kind of survey: he mentions various interpretations but refrains for getting into more engaging detail and there is very little narrative flair to any of it.

The powers that arose from the ashes of the 1200 BCE catastrophe included 1) the Assyrians, who built a kind of totalitarian state that forced entire populations into slavery by forcible removal; 2) the Persians, who pioneered an empire based on cooperation between extraordinarily varied ethic and language groups, all while respecting and indeed fitting into the local cultures and religions, which leaders regarded as useful tools to manipulate rather than as threats to stamp out or crush into submission. This was a fundamental development that required administrative genius.

I am very glad I read this and learned an immense amount. Unfortunately, the style is textbook spare and rather dry, in essence not very fun to read. Moreover, the most serious deficiency in the book is that it does not attempt to cover archaeological evidence beyond an occasional mention; I think that 100 pages of info could have been added to fill this gap. Nonetheless, the author has many wonderful text boxes of literary translations that add flavor, there are excellent maps, and a sprinkling of images that whet the appetite for more. Recommended as the most basic of introductions. It is clearly written, broadly comprehensible, if somewhat unexciting.